Near Ryan hometown, Biden shows middle class roots

11/2/12 2:11 PM EDT

BELOIT, Wis. – Campaigning just 10 miles south of Paul Ryan's hometown, Vice President Joe Biden let his "middle class roots" show here Friday as he attacked Mitt Romney's plan to cut taxes for the rich.

"Remember when he was asked on '60 Minutes' -- he was asked, 'do you think it's fair that you made $20,000 last year," he said, as a few people in the crowd said "$20 million" and the vice president corrected himself. "$20 million -- I guess my middle class roots are showing."

"The town I lived in didn't make $20 million," he joked.

The crowd of just over 1,100 was in on many of the Obama campaign's jokes -- shouting "Romnesia," "binders" and "Etch-a Sketchy" when Biden started talking about related issues. The crowd was especially riled up when Biden mentioned Ryan, who is from nearby Janesvile.

Biden didn't add many new attacks on Ryan to his standard stump speech, on the Republican vice presidential candidate, but didn't offer many new ones, other than one jab. "I know the guy next door doesn’t recognize it, but we actually did rescue the automobile industry," Biden said, hitting on the theme of President Obama's remarks throughout the day Friday in Ohio.

Biden also lamented that discussion of who Obama and Romney would appoint to the Supreme Court didn't get much play during the campaign.

Other than making a decision about taking the nation to war, "the single most important" decision a president can make is "his or her appointments to the United States Supreme Court, because those appointments "last well beyond the tenure" of any president. The next president, he said, as he's said before, will have the chance to appoint one-to-three justices.